A group of Berkeley hills residents is hoping the City Council will put a stop to a plan by a San Francisco software developer to build a 6,400-square-foot home with a 10-car garage.

The modern-style home planned by Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corp., will go before the City Council on Tuesday night.

The 58-year old entrepreneur received an approval from the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board in January, but a woman who lives down the street, joined by 34 others in the neighborhood, is hoping the City Council overturns the approval and makes Kapor start over.

Kapor’s immediate neighbors support the project.

The problem, says neighbor Susan Fadley, who appealed, is a lack of information on the “style, visual character, height and mass,” of the planned home.

“This is a very special neighborhood,” Fadley said. “It has a history that goes way back. You have small, modest homes; the cars parked in the driveways are not the newest model BMWs. This is a unique neighborhood and it is residential.” Reached by e-mail, Kapor declined to comment before Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Fadley said area residents’ initial reaction was “what is a 10-car garage doing in this little woodsy neighborhood?” but they also were worried that the house will be bigger than architectural drawings let on.

“Some people feel the size of it alone is too big,” Fadley said.

But the four neighbors who live next to Kapor’s property sent a letter to people in the neighborhood explaining why they like it.

The letter reads in part: “The project is completely in keeping with the standards of the City Zoning Ordinance, blocks no protected views and poses no other detriments. In fact it provides amenities and improvements valuable to the neighborhood, such as the extensive landscaping, a turnaround on Rose Street, and ample off-street parking.”

City planner Greg Powell, who worked on the Kapor permit, said there is “nothing in city rules that says you can’t have a big house.”

“This is the largest house I’ve worked on, but there are a number of homes in Berkeley the same size or larger, ” Powell said. “We don’t have residential guidelines or design review for this area.”

For her part, Fadley said she doesn’t hold anything personal against Kapor.

“We’re not against the Kapors, they probably would be great neighbors, but they have to do this right,” Fadley said. “We want them to start over at ground zero.”